


and we can pretend we haven’t reached the end yet

by cutebutpsyco



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, Multi, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Tumblr Prompt, all of them - Freeform, also who died before the snap, but i needed the avengers to meet phil, even more angst in chapter 2, i don't know i just watched the first two seasons, i have to catch aos up so phil is just hinted, in the soul dimension magic doesn't work, or better it works very badly, peppertony is hinted, sort of angst, sort of prediction, soul dimension, though i'm not peppertony friendly, who died is in the soul dimention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-13 13:41:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15365904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutebutpsyco/pseuds/cutebutpsyco
Summary: From within the Soul Stone Stephen discovers a way to get one person out. And while he is utterly in love with Tony, from everything he saw in the futures, he knows that Tony does not love him. So he sends back the one Tony does care for. He sends Peter back; telling him everything Tony would need to know to secure the one future he saw.





	1. Chapter I: Stephen

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt by [ironstrangeprompts](http://ironstrangeprompts.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr. 
> 
> A few Soul Dimension headcanons of mine that are relevant for this fic:  
> \- the Soul Dimension is an endless desert but it's also a sort of copy of the universe, so whoever is in there wakes up where it was before dying, which means that Stephen, Peter and the Guardians are where Titan is while who died on the Earth is where the Earth is located,  
> \- whoever died because of the Infinity Stones, is in the Soul DImension (I needed this to justify Loki's presence, nice to meet you, McGuffin),  
> \- Using magic is harder than using it in every other dimension
> 
> A part from these headcanons, nothing belongs to me, title from The One by The Chainsmokers.

Stephen had never heard of the Soul Stone, which meant that spending time there, was like living in a constant sensation of blindness, with which the Sorcerer Supreme wasn’t comfortable.  
He didn't see anything, after what happened on Titan, but when he woke up in that strange world, he knew that there was something weird around them. He tried to use his magic to bring him and the kid out of there but he couldn’t. Magic seemed somehow blocked, and using it even for the smallest tasks was energy-draining.

When they woke up, Stephen was with Peter and the three Guardians of the Galaxy with whom they fought against Thanos. Peter was furious with himself, repeating that he hurt Stark and that it was his fault if Tony had felt guilty for his death. Quill, instead, made a tirade against Stephen just because he gave up the Time Stone for Tony’s life. Strange didn’t reply. He would leave them to blame whoever they wanted to. He knew that was the right thing to do, the only one he could do. There were no other alternatives. Or, better, Stephen stopped to seeking into the future when he saw they had an opportunity to win. He couldn't bear more, not after having seen Peter, Tony and the Guardians dying, and the world falling apart more time than he wished to witness in his all lifelong -possibly zero, thank you so much-, and the first chance to win he perceived, he decided was the best one. He couldn’t explain it, not just because he didn’t know how, but because the others wouldn’t understand.  
Beside them, though, it looked like nobody ever visited that place in the last centuries or so which was weird if you ask the sorcerer. 

The first other presence they found was a green-skinned alien whose name was Gamora. From that moment, Starlord stopped to blame him.  
The alien woman knew more of the Soul Dimension than he did. She studied it while she was looking for the Infinity Stone, she explained, and when Strange asked her while his magic seemed to be way weak than it was on their dimension, her dark eyes widened in surprise. 

“Magic shouldn’t work there,” She said, looking at the dull panorama. Stephen tried to understand what that place reminded him, though nothing he had ever seen in all dimension of the multi-universe he visited resembled the Soul Dimension. “You must be very powerful, Doctor Strange.” 

Stephen smiled softly, though he saw the proud expression in the deep of Peter’s brown eyes.  
“It comes when you are the Supreme Sorcerer.” He said, before starting to ask Gamora everything he could think about the place where they were.

The lights in the Soul Dimension were weird, it was impossible to say if it was night or day, and for being the place where half of the universe was supposed to have been sent after the snap, it was terribly desert. After having argued for a while, though, they decided it was better to move and find somewhere where they could find food and water.

Stephen couldn’t say how long they walked, trying to find someone or something, but it was clear that Mantis was having problems in keep wandering, exhausted by the battle against Thanos and even if the man wasn’t going to admit it, the moment they stop Quill as well fall sleeping fast. Everyone but Stephen and Gamora was immediately in the realm of dreams.  
Strange had no idea what kept Gamora awake, but he couldn’t sleep. His hands were shaking worse than ever, and there was something extremely discouraging about feeling the weight of the Cloak perfectly unmoving upon his shoulders. He patted it before placing the robe around Peter’s shoulders. It wasn’t cold, in the Soul Dimension, which almost too hot, to be honest, but the kid relaxed into the Cloak hug. 

“Peter, Quill, told me what you did,” Gamora said, her eyes were fixed on the horizon, at the still orange sky over their heads and she was sharpening her sword blade. “He doesn’t blame you for real, he feels guilty and needs someone else to blame.”

Stephen nodded, it was normal, he was used to it, even more during his years as a surgeon. He was surprised that, after having spoken so much with Gamora, she didn’t ask the reason why he gave up the Time Stone yet. So Strange decided it was better to prevent that question: “Do you think we are the only one there? In the Soul Dimension?”

“I don’t how does this place work. All I know is that the Soul Stone absorbs the souls of the ones who die because of it,” She moved the sword as if she was balancing the weight of its blade. “We are hardly the only ones stuck in there. Probably we are just the ones who died closer to each other. If you were on Titan,” She continued, pointing with the hand in which she was holding her weapon of choice at the direction they had spent all day long walking toward. “The Earth should be in that way. It’ll be a long walk, though.” 

Stephen decided that her explanation made sense. “You should try to get some rest.” 

“You too, Doc,” Gamora replied, though she raised from the dusty floor of that place and joined the others, leaving Stephen alone. He knew she was right. He had no idea where Titan was or how far it was from the earth, but they reached the planet with a spaceship, and it took them almost twelve hours, there were no ways they could join the others anytime soon if there were others to join. And being sleep deprived wasn’t the best way to figure things out either. 

But sleeping without the help of his conscious astral projection meant dreaming, and dreaming very likely meant reliving the futures he saw. Including the ones in which Tony died. He had 14000605 opportunities to fall for the man, and that was what happened. He fell for him for his selflessness and for his generosity, for the love Tony had for his creations, and for the genius’s mind. And, every time he felt a little bit more in love with him, he remembered the feeling wasn't mutual and would never be. Tony Stark would never love him back. Stephen didn’t care, or, better, it was what he said to himself. He wasn't a teenager with his first crush. Though, it was painful to see futures in which they were together.  
And he possibly feared these more than the others, because they looked happy, as long as it lasted. 

In the following days, or better in the following sleep-wake cycles, they don't meet anybody, but for a small group of aliens who had no idea how ended up in the Soul Dimension and didn't have any kind of useful information. Though their walking rhythm became slower and slower and all of them were just thirsty and tired.  
Stephen used his magic to create a small water spring, and he almost fainted and needed to rest for the following hours. The fact that he hadn’t sleep in the previous three days didn’t help at all. 

“You shouldn’t use your magic again, Mr Doctor,” Peter said, and he was worried. “You scared me.”

Stephen smiled softly. He could see why Tony was so found on the kid. “Don’t worry, Pete, I won’t use it at least it’s strictly necessary.” 

And it was. Even Drax’s lips were cracked, when he decided it was time to try with magic. Though, he wasn’t sure he could replicate it anytime soon. And that was a problem.  
He was hoping to collect enough strength to open a portal through which send someone back on Earth to tell Tony how they would defeat Thanos in the only future in which they could win. But if such a simple spell was almost enough to knock him off, Strange wasn’t sure he could succeed with his plan. 

He should have valued better, though. If also the Cloak had lost its powers, it meant that whatever obstructed the magic in the Soul Dimension was more powerful than he had estimated at first.  
Peter possibly saw that something was going on in Stephen’s smile because he smiled and seated at the sorcerer’s side. 

“Thank you,” The kid said, in a whisper. “ I mean… You shouldn’t use your magic because using it makes you seek but you really helped.” 

“How are you?” Worrying about someone else was almost natural, for Stephen, and it was better than thinking about how he was feeling or being alone with his own thoughts. 

“I… I am fine,” Peter said, though he was tentative. 

“You don’t have to lie to me, y’know?” 

The younger man nodded but said nothing more, and moments later they were walking again. Nobody seemed in a talkative mood, and Stephen could understand it, he himself didn’t speak too much, just exchanging a few words with Peter and Gamora. The silence was crushing, and it was clear that none of them was feeling well as Peter said. Quill put on a fight for everything, and despite her attempt to hide it also Gamora was struggling to keep it together. Mantis was clearly under shock the most of the time, and Stephen knew that she was perceiving the others’ feelings, Peter zoned out more and more, and Drax was stern and unreadable as always, but it was evident that he was this close to breaking down too. Stephen, instead, tried not to think about anything, focusing on the bigger plan of reaching the Soul Dimension copy of the Earth and hoping they would find people, food and water there.  
It was the first time since he became a sorcerer that the Cloak of Levitation was a dead weight on his shoulders, still and unresponsive.

He had no idea how long they had been walking when he felt the point of his fingers sparkle, the familiar feeling that someone with magic was close to him.  
Two things happened at the same time: a man dressed in black appeared pretty much out of the blue in front of them with a couple of daggers and a malicious smile on his lips, and then that someone found himself facing Quill’s gun and Gamora’s very sharp sword. Stephen wanted to help, but he couldn't trust himself with his magic, in that dimension. What he noticed, though, was that there was something familiar in the man, as if Stephen knew him.  
It took a moment before he understood that his own magic was trying to tell him that he met the guy before. Clearly, the newcomer didn’t lose the habit of trying to kill before asking any question. 

“He’s Thor’s brother,” He said, causing everyone to turn at him, including Loki himself who scoffed a moment later. Though, what surprised Stephen was earring from Drax something on the lines of _beauty runs in the family_. And, ok, Stephen wasn’t in the position to judge considering that was pining over Stark despite being technically straight, but he had to control himself because it that occasion was the most hilarious thing he had heard since he woke up in the Soul Dimension. “I’m not sure he won’t try to kill us, but we shouldn’t kill him.” 

“The sorcerer,” Loki said, and it was incredible how could he put so much hate in a single word. But Strange met Loki and knew it was one of his powers. “How’s my brother? What happened to your Infinity Stone? Do you lost it and Thanos happened to find it?” 

Peter slightly to move from Stephen’s side as if he was scared that the Asgardian could attack Strange. He wouldn’t. Loki has enormous powers, but neither him could perform such complicate spells without being affected by the magic block. 

“I’ll tell you, later,” His steel blue eyes scanned the area. It was silent and desert as everything else. “Are you alone there?”

Loki’s green eyes lingered for a while on Gamora’s blade that the alien had lowered but was keeping in her hand, ready to use it, and then went back on Stephen. “I’m here with half of our people, Strange.”

“Are you Asgardian, right?” Peter asked, at that point. He had kept the mask off all the time spent in that dimension, though, now, he covered his face, as if he wanted to keep secret his identity. Despite this fact, the eyes on the mask were so wide that Stephen could easily guess were mirroring Peter's awed expression. “You guys are totally the best in the world! No offence y’all, you are pretty cool too, but they are gods.” 

Stephen smiled, fondly. The kid was too good for every world he had ever seen. Loki seemed pleased with the Spider-boy’s words, and after a little more of threatening and bickering, just because he was Loki and Stephen learned it was how Loki acted, the man showed them the road to what looked like a small camp, crowed with aliens which weren’t clearly all Asgardian.  
The mask lasted on Peter’s face for a couple of minutes longer and then, probably because of the heat, he put it back. None of the people gathered in Loki’s camp looked as a possible threat, and they had food and water. That was enough for the Guardians to decide they could rest for a while before trying to reach the Earth again.

Loki reached the sorcerer the moment Stephen walked a little bit far from the rest of the group. “So,” He said, “That Stone?”

“I had to give it up,” There was no reason to lie to him. Loki nodded, and there was something in his eyes that suggested to Stephen that he knew the feeling, though the sorcerer didn’t ask, and the other said nothing. “How does magic work, with you?”

“Small tricks,” Loki’s jaw clenched, and he turned his palm upside down, the uncertain shape of a small dagger glimmered for a while in his palm and then disappeared before it could turn into a real weapon. “And it’s exhausting. I conjured some invisible shields around the camp but are draining my energies.” 

Stephen nodded. “What are you thinking about, sorcerer?” Loki’s smile was mischievous. 

Stephen knew he had a single opportunity to tell Loki what was in his mind. It was the only way, and he knew the man far too well for the small time they spent together, but he wasn’t sure he could trust the Asgardian.  
Though, he was his only hope, his only help. He glanced at the horizon as if he was trying to recall which his plan was. The only things he could think about, though, were Tony’s whiskey brown eyes. The way they opened when he heard what Stephen was doing.  
_Spare his life._ Stephen traded half of the universe to save a single man. And he wasn’t feeling guilty about it. And that, probably, made him a shitty human being. But Tony was the only person who could save the world. He was the only one who had the knowledge, the power and the technology to do it. “I need to deliver a message to Stark.”

Loki’s smile didn’t flinch. His forest green eyes didn’t leave Stephen’s steel blue ones, he was scanning the man. “And how do you intend to deliver the said message?” He asked. 

He thought a long about it the moment he did start to think about the plan. He needed to send on Earth someone Tony trusted. Stephen himself was the first option because he knew he would have been the more skilled to explain it, having seen something about that future. Although, the things were more complicated and Stephen also knew Tony would have blamed him if he didn't save the kid when he had the opportunity.  
And the point was that he would have normally stayed to what he considered being the most rational choice, but Peter was different than everyone Strange had ever know. 

“I need to open a portal and send Peter through it.” He explained, studying the unreadable expression on Loki’s face. 

“To open a portal with such low magic energy around here, you’ll need to use your own vital one,” Was the only thing the other man said, after an eternal moment of dead silence. “I won’t mourn you, but I think there are other ways to deliver this message.”

“It won’t kill me, not if someone else helps me,” Stephen’s voice was bitter. He didn’t want to beg for Loki’s help, actually he would have preferred to ask for that to everyone else, but he was closer, and his magic seemed to work well enough to keep his people hidden when there was someone in the proximity of it, considering that they saw nothing of the camp while they were approaching. “That’s the only way: Stark won’t trust some random notes or writes on his mirror.”

“Help… I get what you mean, sorcerer. Why should I?” 

Stephen looked at him. He did expect that question since the very moment he said he needed help. “Because I have the feeling you don’t want to spend the rest of your days here, for instance.” 

The irony was dropping from his voice, and Stephen did nothing, to contain it: they weren’t allies, they weren't friends either. Stephen didn’t trust the man, and not only because he trusted nobody. How could someone ask him to believe in the wizard's words? The God of Mischief himself? The man who caused the New York alien invasion a long time ago? Stephen had still vivid remembers from that day. Everything was a mess and they were in a full damages control set of mind: they couldn’t save everyone, nobody could do it.  
He tried to keep his sense of guilt at bay, though it wasn’t easy. It hadn’t been back in the day and wasn’t either after all these years; he hated the idea of asking Loki that favour, but he also knew that the Asgardian was his only hope. 

Loki smirked but stayed quiet. Stephen just looked at him, as if he was waiting for an answer that the man didn't give to him. “Peter can tell your brother you are still alive.” 

At that, Strange knew he had Loki’s full attention. It was evident that he was trying not to show any emotion. But Stephen knew better and understood they were close since he first met the Asgardians siblings. “I don’t know if they know we can be brought back but you, you were killed before the snap, and you’re not the Avengers’ favourite person. We both know Thor is the only one who gives a shit about you.” 

“That’s flattering, considering what you are asking for.” Loki flashed him with a grin. 

“But that’s the truth, isn’t it? I’d like to continue this conversation, but I haven’t time to bargain for your help.” 

“Why the Spider-boy?” Loki asked, instead. “Why not you?”

“Stark trusts him.” He said, blankly. He wasn’t going to admit what there was behind his choice to Loki himself. The mischievous smile didn’t leave the dark-haired man’s lips. 

Loki didn’t answer him, he just turned his backs to Stephen and went back to the camp; Strange followed a short after. 

\--

The Asgardian camp was loud and too crowded, but being with other people somehow cheered up Stephen’s group and it was good. He didn’t care about the Guardians or, better, he did but what made him feel slightly better was seeing Peter’s smile more and more frequently. 

“What’s up, Doc?” The kid asked him, handling to Stephen a bottle of water. Strange had no idea where these came from, but he was grateful for having it. 

Loki, at the end of a hell long and kind of tiring conversation, decided to help him. The Truth was that Stephen wasn’t even sure if it was for the better, but he had run short of options a long time before. “I’ve found a way to bring you out of there.”

“That’s great!” He yelled, then, a moment later, his face darkened with realisation. “Why…? Just me…?”

“I need you to speak with Tony,” He explained, though he knew he wasn’t a real answer. “You have to tell him what I saw in the future.”

“How?” Stephen hated himself because every glimpse of happiness left Peter’s eyes. All he could see was worrying. 

“I’ll portal you out of there,” Stephen explained. 

“But… You promised… No more magic.” The kid whispered. Stephen nodded, his eyes were running everywhere but the kid’s face, he didn’t want to lie to him, but he also knew telling him the truth meant having him refusing to leave the Soul Dimension. 

“Loki will help me,” He said, instead. Stephen took another sip of water just because it easily kept himself busy and not looking at Peter. “I’ll be fine.”

“I… can you assure this to me?” 

“Pete,” He said, he wasn’t able to look in these dark and deep brown eyes and telling him another lie. But he couldn’t say the truth either. “It won’t kill me. And then, once you’ll have told Tony what he has to do, then I’ll be fine,” Strange spent an enormous amount of time trying to keep back a soft smile every time he spoke about Tony but he couldn’t now. The idea of seeing him again, even if he knew that there wasn’t a future for them, not together, was overwhelming. “I mean, we all will be.” 

Peter nodded, and he looked way wiser than his sixteen years when he did it: “I’ll do it, I’ll help Mr Stark, and you.” 

They didn't want to give the others false hopes and make them believe Strange had the key to bring everyone back, so they waited that everyone else was sleeping before doing anything. Stephen wishes to be able to save everyone, but he also knew it was wiser not to waste his and Loki’s vital energy. Not if there was another way to free them. In the silence of the Soul Dimension, Stephen could hear Peter whispering to himself what Strange had seen about the future in which the Avengers took Thanos down. It wasn’t the entire plan, though Stephen hoped the information he got were enough. 

He looked at Loki. The man hadn't told him yet what his prize was which meant that he wasn’t even sure he wanted to know it, but Stephen had to accept his help and couldn’t contest it further. 

“I’m ready when you are, Strange.” He said, probably feeling Stephen’s eyes on him. The Sorcerer Supreme nodded, sliding his ring on and starting to trace unsteady circles in the orange air in front of him. The portal which was forming was way too small, narrower than any other he had ever created. He tried to widen it and saw his hands starting to shaking worse than ever.  
His view became blurred while his energy was drifting out of his body as blood from a wound. And, yet, the portal was too narrow. Peter couldn’t walk through it. “Lo-Loki…”

In an eye beat, a hand was on his shoulder, and he felt something different. It was like cold electricity, different from every kind of magic he ever felt in his veins, strong and quick. The portal became wider almost immediately, though Stephen knew it wouldn’t last. Loki’s energy wouldn’t last long, and the sorcerer only dared to stretch the portal what was necessary for the slender figure of Peter to walk inside. 

“Go,” The sorcerer whispered, while he caught a glimpse of Tony’s armour at the other side of the golden circle of the portal. He wondered how long he could keep it open. Could it last enough to let him see the man? Stephen wasn’t even sure he wanted to know the answer. 

“Mr Doctor,” Peter’s voice was sad when he stepped forward, not yet inside the portal but closer. “Thank you.”

Focusing was hard, and Stephen couldn’t reply to him. A moment later, Spiderman stepped through the shaking portal, and the sorcerer started to close it. 

“Kid…?” Came from the other side, the voice stained in disbelief and something which sounded as tears. Stephen dared to look at the remains of the portal. A small window to the Earth. A dark-haired man was hugging the kid. 

“Tony…” Stephen whispered, and in that whisper, there was hope and love.  
A moment later, Strange fainted.


	2. Chapter II: Tony

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank you all for the feedback on this fiction. It was supposed to be a one-shot, but y'all asked for more, so here I am providing it.  
> I cut a lot about how they win over Thanos because I didn't want to take this too long, so it's so damned vague.  
> Yup Bruce and Christine are the rarepair nobody cares about but me.  
> I hope you will enjoy this as well as the previous chapter.  
> Disclaimer: I haven't finished AoS yet (I'm at the end of season 2), so I have no idea of what happened to Coulson but I love him which is why I've decided he had to meet with the Avengers and let them know he is alive. I know he'll probably be ooc as fuck, but I had too. Once I'll have catch up the series I'll write this properly.

“Boss, Doctor Banner and Doctor Palmer ask for you, they are pretty insistent, and Doctor Banner told me to remind you he has clearance authorisations for the lab,” Friday repeated, not for the first time. As the previous ones, the only answer the AI received was a scoff.

Tony had no idea how long he spent in his lab, to be honest. He didn’t even remember what happened after he came back from Titan along with Nebula, probably Christine had run some exams on him considering that he spoke with her but then he headed straight to his lab and never left it any longer. Working was better than everything else, even if, for once in his life, it wasn’t relaxing at all. He looked at one of the blueprints for the new armour and moved it in the air, toward the small black hole shaped recycle bin. It was crap anyway!

“What do they want?” He asked, resisting the urge to be a child and throwing something in the vague direction of the door behind which he knew the Doctors were hidden. The last thing in the world he needed was the two teaming up against him. 

Whatever was the answer, Tony never heard it. A golden circle started to sparkle in the middle of his lab, and Tony immediately forgot about everything he was working on. Since he went back from Titan, he didn't succeed in nothing he worked at. Every time his dark eyes lingered on the workbench he cleared for Peter, his mind went blank, and he couldn't finish any project he was working at. In the end, Tony simply started to put random things on it just not to be forced to stare at the emptiness. It didn’t help, but by now the genius was sure nothing could. 

And, a moment later, Peter stumbled out of the golden circle, and he was still wearing the Iron Spider suit, and the only thing Tony could do was staring blankly at him for a couple of minutes before wrapping his arms around Peter’s body. “Kid…?”

The kid hugged him back, shaking between his arms but there, real, alive, and, a moment later, Tony focused his attention back at the portal, which was growing smaller. 

“Strange,” He mouthed, noticing the same kind of magic he first saw in Central Park, when Stephen asked for his help, that memory seemed to belong to a century before. 

“Strange?” He called, again, though he wasn’t even sure he had spoken at all. His view was blurred, and he knew he was crying, but Peter was there, and that was the only thing that mattered. 

“Mr Stark,” Peter said in a whisper. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok,” It was more than ok, but Tony couldn't come up with something better. He didn’t dare to hope it was real, he knew it must be a dream. His whiskey brown eyes ran back on the sparkling circle, waiting for Strange to walk through. The man who saved his life, though, didn’t appear in the middle of his lab, and when the portal closed, Tony’s body fell against Peter’s. 

He couldn’t say how long neither of them moved. Everything Tony knew was that he jumped back when he heard the door of his lab opening with a hiss. Maybe he really lost his guts and was hugging the air, perhaps at the end, he died in the attempt of coming back on Earth, and he was with Peter in the heaven, a place in which he didn’t believe. Tony had no idea, but moving was painful at least as it was knowing it was a dream, it must have been one. 

He felt soft hands on his shoulders and saw Peter standing, helped by someone whose identity Tony couldn’t care about. His eyes were still fixed on when the portal was an instant before. There was nothing now, no tangible proofs that it had never existed. No shreds of evidence that Stephen Strange was alive if not the fact that he saw the portal, and the kid was now with him. And Tony wasn’t sure he could trust his own senses right now. 

“Tony, Tony,” He heard a voice, and a moment later, a sweet face with a soft smile appeared in front of him. Hazel eyes and copper hair up in a ponytail. _Christine,_ his brain provided. “Count with me, from ten to one, ok?”

He nodded, out of habit, probably, and started to count loud trying to focus on the doctor’s face and to breathe every time he pronounced a number. When he was at three, he could see clearly again what was around him. He was seated on the floor, even if was sure he rose, Christine was at his side, her hand on the genius’s shoulder and Peter was in front of him, speaking with Bruce. The man was smiling at him, that sincere smile that only Banner could wear when everything else was falling apart.

“Can you stand?” Christine asked him. 

“Yeah, yeah.” He did, just to fall again on the stool of his bench, head in his hands. Both the sleep deprivation and the poor feeding he had since he came back on Earth made his brain slow, too slow, and Peter’s presence in his lab looked every moment more like a dream. He was grateful the kid was there, but he couldn't believe it wasn't a dream. 

“I’ll need to run some exam on Peter,” Tony heard Christine say, he couldn’t tell with whom she was speaking about, maybe all of the people gathered in the room. “You both can wait for us there, it won’t take long, and the Compound should be clear.”

A part of Tony knew why she wanted to be sure nobody was around. The other was just worried that having Peter out of his sight would make him disappear again. “What about Bruce and I come with you so the kid can update us?” He asked, and there was a not-so-vague threatening shade in his voice as if he was waiting for someone to stop him for murder the unfortunate soul with his glance. 

Tony watched how the woman moved around Peter, scanning the boy over and over again with her StarkPad, which Tony neither remember of having given to her, but still. He knew that she was working with Bruce when Tony came back on Earth and he trusted the man's judgement. Tony also knew Bruce was the one keeping the team -or what was left of the team- together while everything was falling apart and he was glad to him.

“So, from where, exactly, did you pop out?” Bruce himself asked, looking at Peter’s chest scanning which Friday was projecting from Christine’s tablet. A lot of vitals of which Tony didn’t understand were keeping flashing and disappearing, but all the numbers were green, and that was comforting. 

Christine seemed to understand what was going on in Stark’s mind because she smiled at him and spoke before Peter could say anything: “He’s fine. No brain damages, no stranger toxins, not even badly healed injuries,” She let something scroll on the screen, and another series of numbers appeared where Peter’s chest was a moment before. “I can just recommend to be hydrated and not superheroing for a while, but he’s fine, even finer than you were.” 

Tony could sense the not so silent reprimand in Doctor Palmer’s voice. She spent the entire week trying to force him to rest as if he could. She and Bruce were also trying to outsmart him with logic. Whoever introduced the two of them, was on Tony’s blacklist. As he did for a week, he ignored the woman and focused back on Peter.

“Gamora called it the Soul DImension,” He answered. Tony made a note to tell Nebula about Gamora, whoever she fucking was. Every alien he met since they reached Titan seemed to be extremely concerned about Gamora and her well-being. And he just knew she was Nebula’s adopted sister. “She knew a lot of stuff about the place, Doctor Strange asked her almost everything, then we met Loki and the Asgardians.” 

“Loki?” Tony was sure he would have used a completely different tone, but Bruce’s seemed almost relieved. Whatever happened to his friend during the two years of total blackout, Tony must sort it out. 

“Yeah, he, he’s alive, everyone is, in the Soul Dimension.” Peter ran a hand in his hair as if he was trying to remember something, then he continued: “But magic doesn’t work there, and only Mr Doctor and Loki can use it. Though when Stephen tried he almost fainted and the only way he could portal me there was asking Loki to share his vital energy with him.” 

Tony nodded, he had no idea of what to do apart from that. He thought Strange would have crossed the portal too and when he saw it closing, Tony imagined he would just open another one. What Peter was saying, though, was completely different. Stephen was able to portal only one person out of wherever they were, and he chose Peter. 

He didn’t know the man well enough, he didn’t know him as well as he’d like to, and everything he knew about him was what Christine told him in their brief speech about the wizard. How he changed, was the thing that charmed Tony the most. Tony felt everyone’s eyes on him and had to store that thought in the bottom of his mind.  
Strange was a rebus, and Stark was more than intended to solve it.  
For now, he just needed to come up with a plan. 

“Ok, so, Steph… Strange sent you back,” He said, remembering a moment later that he never pronounced the man’s name before. “I’ll keep this quiet. Just the four of us. I agree that Nebula and Thor have to know about their siblings, but that’s not the moment.”

Everyone was too on the edge, seeing Peter and knowing about their loved ones could affect the others in ways Tony couldn't predict.

“Tony…” Bruce interrupted him, softly. 

“I know, but listen: Thor feels guilty enough yet for having left his brother’s body in the outer space when there was nothing he could do about it, and now he has to work with his ex-girlfriend who dumped him. I’m not saying we’re keeping this secret forever,” He tried, looking at Peter. “I’m telling you that until we find Thanos, the kid come with me to the Tower, and you two as well.”

Christine and Bruce shared a private glance which didn’t pass unobserved at Tony because it looked to him sort of familiar, and decided he would investigate on it later. 

The drive from the Compound to the Tower was a sort of sweet hell. Christine toke the dibs for driving considering that it was better not to inform Happy either, for now, and Tony had to decide if take the passenger seat or seat in the back with Peter. Both options sounded, to him, awful enough. He didn’t let anyone drive him since Monaco, and the back seat was a stronger enough trigger for Afghanistan to make him wish never enter a car if he wasn’t the driver but leaving Peter out of his sight also meant not seeing the kid and worrying about his well-being.  
In the end, Tony went for the back seat and tried to enjoy the silent ride. 

Peter was half asleep when Christine pull over near the Tower, and it took a bit longer for the four of them to enter it and reaching the Penthouse which was deadly silent. All the bots were in the Compound and, while the lower floors were still operative, nobody used the rooms where they were for a long time, since the so-called Civil War, to be honest. Two years of dust seemed to be the only welcome home Tony received. 

“Friday,” He called, once they were in the main room. “Which are Doctor Palmer’s clearances at the Compound?”

“SI med personal and Doctor Banner’s private quarters, boss.” The AI's voice answered, way too fast. If Christine's cheeks didn't have turned the same shade of red of a tomato, Tony could have believed it was for work (hell, no, he exactly knew why ‘Stephen’s pretty ex-girlfriend’ had the key for Bruce’s quarters), but now it was too obvious. 

“Update her to ‘Welcome New Avenger’, and give Peter’s his own,” He said, turning to a still flushing cheeked Christine. “These new ones have all the extras of the old ones, plus the access to the Penthouse and one room in the Avengers’ quarters…”

“Boss, when you say ‘give Peter his own’ you mean the ‘Stark Industries Heir’ ones?” Friday interrupted him again and Tony, really, really, wished to have called that specific clearances level in every other way but that. He didn’t plan to give Peter his accesses so soon, not before having spoken about it with both the kid and May but he was just so happy that he was there that he didn’t think about consequences. The kid was clearly still half asleep because he didn’t react until he heard Tony’s answers to Friday and then his brown eyes became so wide that Stark was frightened they could pop off his head.

“Mr Stark…? What does…? What… Why?” 

“Calm down, kiddo,” Tony smiled. “I didn’t mean for real, not if you don’t want to. It’s just… A stupid name, ok? It means you can go everywhere inside the Tower. Same clearances Bruce has.” 

Which wasn’t completely a lie, Bruce had the same authorisations but for different reasons that Peter didn’t need to know.

“I… Mr Stark that’s great but…” He ran a hand in his hair and Tony feared to have messed up worse than ever. He thought it would have made the kid happy but, of course, it didn’t. He had had his own parents and his aunt and uncle and why should he'd like to be his heir? 

“It’s ok, kid.” He said, trying to break in a smile because everything was rapidly turning into something even more depressing. “I’ll say we all go to sleep, tomorrow morning we can speak about what happened and…”

A moment later, a pair of arms were embracing his waist, and Tony froze where he was, understanding a moment later that they were Peter's arms. The kid's dark eyes were gleaming with tears. “Hey, are you ok?”

“It’s just, thank you, Mr Stark.” He was flushing, and a moment later he let go and rapidly decided that the stool where he was seated a moment before was the most interesting object in the room. 

\--

When everyone was up, the day after, they had a fast breakfast, while Peter explained to them what Strange saw in the future in which they defeated Thanos. Tony tried to focus, but his mind got dragged away by the knowledge of what the sorcerer did. He could save himself, he could have been the one to walk out of the portal, being safe on the Earth, instead, he chose to save Peter.  
And Tony couldn’t really understand why. The only thing the genius knew, was why he would have made that very same choice, but he was sure Strange didn’t share the same affection for the kid that he did. 

And if he understood something about that man, it was that they weren’t so much different. They only faced things in a different way. 

“Do you think is this possible?” He heard Bruce asking, and he wasn’t even sure the man was speaking with him. “Tony? Where are you?”

“Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts,” He said, focusing his attention back on peter. “What were you saying, kiddo?”

“That we all should take a break, drink a couple of coffees, and then go back to this conversation,” Christine answered, raising from her chair and looking at Bruce for a while. “Tony, do you mind to help me?”

Tony found himself following Christine in his own kitchen. If he knew Bruce a little bit, he did spet all the night up, trying to figure things out and possibly she helped him in that, which meant the doctor exactly knew where the coffee machine was and how it worked.  
Being alone with Doctor Palmer was weird. They didn’t speak a lot since when Stark came back from his merry trip on Titan, and he knew pretty nothing about the woman if not that she was Stephen’s ex-girlfriend, one of the best neurosurgeons in the world -even if she chose to be an ER doctor-, and apparently Bruce’s actual girlfriend. He didn’t even know if he could trust her, but he decided to do it with Peter’s well-being and considering that it was what he valued the most he could follow her without worrying too much about the woman. 

He looked at her messing with the coffee machine and while she waited that the first cup was filled a thought crossed his mind: what if she wanted to speak about Peter? Was she smart enough to change the dates from the scanning she did on the kid? The answer probably was yes. Maybe she acted as if nothing was wrong not to make Peter freak out at the Compound. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked, and hated his voice for sounding so unsteady. “Is this about Peter?”

Christine turned to look at him, a sweet smile on her lips while she put another cup under the machine, shaking her head. “You saw the scans, Tony, he’s fine,” She said, and she looked honest. “You are the one I’m concerned about. You are my patient as well as Peter is, and you haven’t slept in the last week.”

Tony wanted to roll his eyes at the ceiling, he really wanted to, but, somehow, he didn’t and just stared at Christine, taking the cup she placed for him on the counter. As if she knew he didn’t like when people handled things to him. “I can’t.” He answered, simply.

“You can’t save them if your brain is too tired to put things together,” She took the third cup out from the machine and walked back in the living room, leaving Tony thinking about what she said. He knew that everything he tried to create since he was back from Titan was shit because of the very same reason she told to him, but silencing everything was easier for him. “I can't understand what Stephen saw, and even if Bruce can, he can’t do it alone.” 

Tony nodded, following her a moment later and thinking about her words as well as about the man who sacrificed his freedom for the kid’s one.  
When he came back into the living room, Bruce was sketching something on a piece of paper and Peter was speaking, trying to explain something to Banner. 

“Mr Doctor said that the only way to defeat Thanos is to create a similar gauntlet. If you travel in other dimensions, you’ll find other Infinity Stones.” 

“We can’t do this alone,” Tony said, and there was sadness in his voice. He really hoped he could keep that thing between them. 

“Thor may help us,” Bruce intervened, looking at the genius. Stark knew the god was their best opportunity. 

“I know,” He said, looking at the wall behind Bruce himself. “Friday, set a meeting with the Avengers for this evening, here at the Tower.”

“I’ll send a notification to everyone, boss.” 

“Just Thor, Nat, Clint and Thor,” He said, he didn’t want to keep things hidden to the team because secrets were what tear them apart but he also knew what kind of reaction what he had to say could cause in the others. “I’ll tell to everyone else, we will probably need Shuri’s and Helen’s help as well if we want to sort things out, but there are things we have to speak about, before.”

When the other Avengers arrived at the Stark Tower, none of them looked well. Tony hadn’t seen most of them since he came back, especially Nat and Steve who were trying to understand how the situation was out of the US. Clint looked as a mess, and Tony couldn’t really blame him, not when his wife and their middle child disappeared in the Snap. But, despite all, what surprised Tony the most was the man who was with Nat. He looked somewhat familiar, though Stark couldn’t place his face. 

None of them was fine, but Thor was the one who looked more devastated, and Tony knew it was because he felt responsible for having let Thanos snap his fingers in the first place. Bruce explained to him how the battle in Wakanda went, and he was sure there wasn’t nothing the Asgardian could do differently -he hoped to hit Thanos’s heart-, but trying to convince Thor was behind pointless. 

“I thought y’all were at the Compound, what are we doing here, Stark?” Rogers asked the moment he walked into the Tower. 

“Bruce and I needed a place where to speak with you,” Tony admitted, seeing a moment later Steve’s face darkening. Cap’s thoughts were limpid in his eyes, Tony deliberately decided to ignore him. He was the last person who could speak about hiding things. “The people who disappear in the Snap, they are all alive. They are trapped in another dimension called the Soul Dimension inside of the Soul Stone. Including Loki, Heimdall and Nebula’s sister, Gamora.”

He saw everyone’s face light up, and a waterfall of names started to run out of the Avengers’ mouths. Nat waited for everyone else to be silent before continuing: “How do you know that?”

“Because Strange brought back someone from the Soul Dimension,” Bruce answered, not being too surprised when no-one seemed to recognize the man’s name. No-one but the person who was at Nat's back.

“Do you got in touch with Doctor Strange?” The man asked, and now Tony could place him. But the owner of that voice died a long time ago, and how in the hell was he there, in his house? Something must have snapped in his eyes because Steve stepped in front of Coulson.

“You are not the only one who found something, Tony. He’s not a threat.” Cap said, and, again, someone else answered for him. This time, though, was Peter who came in from the kitchen when he and Christine were since a moment prior. 

“We fought Thanos on Titan with Doctor Strange and the Guardians of the Galaxy,” He said, and there was, in his voice, the same sadness Tony could hear in his own everytime he thought about the Doctor. “He disappeared along with the Guardians and me, and he sent me back so that I could tell Mr Stark what he had to do to defeat Thanos…”

“Which is why you are there, well, the ones who are supposed not to have been killed by Thor’s brother six fucking years ago!” Coulson gave Tony a small, sympathetic smile, though the genius decided it wasn't time to argue with him. 

“How do we stop Thanos?” Nat asked, instead. 

“Collecting the Stones in other dimensions,” Tony said, looking at Thor. “You can do it, can’t you?” 

“The Stormbreaker can. But it’ll require time.”

“Time we don’t have,” Clint said. 

“You can have more time,” Christine’s smile was soft as if she understood something that escaped to everyone else. That smile reminded Tony of Pepper’s one. “Stephen’s stone. He told me little about it, but I get it can modify time.” 

“Christine’s right. If we can locate the other Time Stone, we’ll have enough time to collect the remaining ones.” 

Tony was used enough to Avengers’ discussion to know they can go on forever. He backed off and seated on an armchair, his head in his hands. It was both too easy and too difficult, and he couldn’t stop to think about the man who gave him that shred of hope. He wished he knew him before, before Thanos, before everything, he wished he looked for him once that Hydra files had been updated in his servers and Doctor Strange’s file pop up for the first time. Though what really haunted him was how the man saved Peter. 

“What’s wrong, Mr Stark?” The kid himself asked him, walking closer and looking at the arguing group. 

“Nothing, kid,” He lied, even too easily. He had been used to it, but it was always alarming how lies came naturally to him. “I was just thinking about Stephen.”

Peter nodded, as if he knew something and then seated in front of Tony, looking at him dead serious in the eyes. Stark found himself facing eyes which were full of hope and fear, and he wished to be able to erase the latter from Peter’s eyes. He wanted to protect the Spiderling even if the only thing he seemed to be able to do was putting him in danger. “He trusts you a lot, Mr Stark, and so I do.”

Tony nodded again. He had no idea of what to say, to be honest. 

\--

Tony’s left hand burned like hell. He could almost feel the pain toward all his body, piercing through his arm, where old scars seemed to amplify it. It took them almost six months to collect all the Infinity Stones in dimensions of which nobody but Wong didn’t even know the existence. The sorcerer joined them when they decided to let everyone know about their plan, and with both his and Thor’s help they succeeded in retrieving the Time Stone and used it to travel back in time everytime they found a new one.  
Tony used to keep the Stone close to him, and nobody questioned about it either, though he could see Christine’s glances everytime the two of them were together which happened to be more and more frequently. 

He didn’t even know why. At first, he thought it was because it was the only stone they owned for real. Then, Nat collected the Power Stone from one of the dimensions they were looking into, and he realized there must be something more. And he understood what that 'something more' was only after having snapped his fingers and having brought back everyone. He looked at the destroyed gauntlet he was wearing, and only then Tony saw their Stones disappearing. That let him know that was keeping the Time Stone for himself because it was the only thing he owned of Stephen, along with his memories. 

What happened after, was a mess. The fight against Thanos left very few people capable of standing on their feet, but when the people who disappeared started to come back like nothing happened, they all tried to be stronger, not to show their beloved ones how they were feeling for real. 

For Tony, focusing was difficult. He saw Peter standing, alive, speaking with Nat and holding her against his body, helping her to walk toward Sam and Bucky, and an enormous weight left his shoulders. The kid reached him a moment later. 

“Are you ok, Mr Stark? You look pale…”

“I’m fine, kid,” He said, but the pain in his voice was audible. He let the nanobots retract in the arc reactor and looked at his hand. It was burned but looked definitely better than he had guessed which was good.  
And then he saw the man. Stephen Strange was standing at Loki’s side, and he looked thinner than Tony remembered but when he rose his eyes on Tony a secret smile was on his thin lips. 

“Stark,” He said, walking in Tony’s direction. It was clear that the Cloak was holding all his weight, considering that Stephen was almost fluctuating in the air, but Tony couldn’t care less. “You did it. I knew you would.”

Tony nodded. “Thank you.” He had no idea why he was thanking the man for, but when they both looked at Peter, it was as if they both decided the kid was the reason for it.

Tony looked at the people around him. Everyone was there, Rogers and Barnes were trying to occupy the very same space, hugging so tight that there wasn’t even air to breathe between them. Rocket was joking with his friends, and Nebula and Gamora were speaking in the corner, not so far from the rest of their friends -Tony hoped they would sort things out. Clint was kissing his wife madly while he was holding their daughter between them. Coulson was with Fury and Maria Hill, probably updating them on the fact that the Avengers now knew of his alive status, Thor and Loki were laughing. 

And Tony was there, standing near both Peter and Strange. “I, I should go and look for Pepper.” He said, though moving was hard and he knew that after all what happened he couldn’t really think about what he could tell to the woman. He had to look for her, though. He needed to ask or her forgiveness. 

“Yeah, you should,” Stephen said, and there was something Stark couldn’t name in the sorcerer’s eyes while he turned his backs to Strange and the kid.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it. As always, if there's something that I miss during the editing let me know.   
> Come and say hello on [Tumblr](http://staryjoy.tumblr.com/).


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